1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a facsimile apparatus and a multifunction apparatus, which stores a plurality of firmware programs, and to an updating method for updating firmware stored in such an apparatus. The present invention also relates to a portable memory which stores firmware for the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
When firmware stored in an image forming apparatus (control program) are updated, the image forming apparatus obtains firmware from a host computer and performs a firmware rewriting process. After the rewriting process is completed, the image forming apparatus is automatically rebooted. Then, the image forming apparatus performs operations based on the updated firmware.
For example, the image forming apparatus comprises a memory which stores rewritable firmware. The image forming apparatus can rewrite the firmware written in the memory with updating firmware received from the host computer (“updating firmware” means a new version of firmware that replaces an old version of the same firmware). The image forming apparatus comprises a decision unit which determines whether the image forming apparatus is in operation or not, when the host computer sends an order to rewrite the firmware. The image forming apparatus also comprises a storage unit which temporarily stores the updating firmware, when the decision unit determines that the image forming apparatus is in operation (See Related Art 1 for example). According to Related Art 1, when the decision unit determines that the image forming apparatus is in operation, the image forming apparatus can receive and rewrite the firmware in separate operations. Therefore, the image forming apparatus can receive the firmware from the host computer, without depending on whether the image forming apparatus is in operation or not.
[Related Art 1]                Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-72197        
However, the technology described in the above-referred Related Art 1 requires a process to rewrite the firmware each time a necessary firmware update is obtained. Then, each time the rewriting process is executed, the image forming apparatus needs to be rebooted so as to activate the rewritten firmware. Therefore, when a plurality of firmware programs are updated, the updating process and the rebooting process must be repeated as many times as the number of firmware programs which need to be updated. This results in an inefficient updating process.
Furthermore, in order to update the firmware stored in the image forming apparatus, an operator needs to prepare the host computer which stores updating firmware and needs to connect the host computer to the image forming apparatus. Therefore, it has been cumbersome for the operator to update firmware.
Furthermore, the firmware stored in the image forming apparatus not only include standard functions but may also have optional functions which can be randomly chosen. In this case, in order to update the firmware, the operator needs to specify necessary updating firmware which need to be updated according to the functions currently stored in the image forming apparatus.